Wen You

After a moment of silence, Wen Yan cleared his throat. "Stop arguing. Can't we perform Return to Source together? We just need to control our power properly when the time comes."

This solution met with broad approval, and none of the others objected.

Seeing this, Wen Yan felt rather helpless. Every matter involving Jiujiu always required a discussion, and everyone would attend no matter how busy they were—except Jiujiu himself.

There was no helping it. These doting older brothers couldn't exactly argue in front of their little brother...

That was why Sen Lijiu never took part in these meetings. It wasn't that he didn't want to attend; his brothers simply wouldn't let him...

Just as they finished their discussion, Sen Lijiu got out of bed, curling his tails around himself. After sleeping, he had forgotten why he had passed out in the first place, and he didn't dwell on it.

After all, he had just completed Source Condensation then and should have been stronger, but resisting the turbulent currents of space and time had drained all his power. He had even used magic shortly after waking up, leaving him utterly weakened, so his collapse had probably been caused by excessive magical expenditure.

He curled his nine tails, slowly stood up, and walked outside. As he reached the door, it opened automatically, and Mujiu's phantom form appeared, obediently following him. It let out a hum, and a line of text appeared in front of Sen Lijiu, reading as follows ↓

[Master, you're awake! How do you feel? Are you feeling better?]

[Master, is there anything you're still having trouble using? If there is, I'll replace it.]

[Master, what did you mean when you said you'd already experienced it?]

[Master, did you run into Pupula?]

Sen Lijiu: ...I know you're worried, but you don't have to ask so many questions at once.

Sen Lijiu said, "Mujiu, you're being a little annoying òᆺó"

Mujiu's phantom form swayed, then shifted until it looked entirely like a little flame.

[Master, I'm only worried about you!]

[And after I did such a good job protecting you, too. Hmph ╯^╰]

[I'm mad!]

Seeing this, Sen Lijiu held a hand to his forehead (¯―¯٥) and raised one finger. "Two Saint Weapons."

Mujiu didn't react.

Sen Lijiu ground his teeth and forced the words out. "Five Saint Weapons! Not one more!"

At that, Mujiu immediately responded.

[Hehe, thank you, Master! I knew you were the best! You're so generous!]

Sen Lijiu: ...You changed your tune way too fast.

He smiled without saying anything. What could he do? It was his own weapon, so he might as well spoil it. Still, he really needed to rein it in, or it would demand even more next time...

Hmm...I'll find a time to call it out.

Five weapons gleaming with holy light appeared behind him, all of them rarely seen Saint Weapons.

Saint Weapons occupied the third tier in the weapon hierarchy. They were extremely difficult to obtain and immensely powerful.

Weapon tiers, from lowest to highest, were roughly as follows:

Cloud

Mystic

Moon

Star

Soul

Saint

Divine

Spirit

Source

There were nine tiers in total. Source Tier weapons were the strongest, but they were exceedingly rare; no one had ever seen one to date. People only knew Spirit Tier weapons as the strongest, unaware that there was an even stronger Source Tier.

Of course, that only meant other people had never seen them. Jiujiu himself had seen eight Source Tier weapons—no, nine. Each of his older brothers had one, and they had given him one too, making nine Source Tier weapons in all.

His eighth brother could craft these weapons and was an expert at it. (Eighth brother: Wen You.) His eighth brother also had many disciples. Just how many? To give an example, every weapon above Heaven Tier was made by his eighth brother's disciples. Everyone else could make Moon Tier weapons at best and couldn't produce anything beyond that. His eighth brother's disciples were all trustworthy people who belonged to his faction. They all bore Source Marks and would never betray him.

If they ever stopped selling weapons, the strength of everyone outside their family would drop by around ninety percent! That was how important weapon tiers were: the higher the tier, the greater the boost it provided.

Weapons like Saint Weapons might be difficult for others to obtain, but Sen Lijiu had plenty of them. He had no shortage whatsoever.